Research and Artistry is an annual internal grant program supporting faculty research, scholarship, and artistry activities. Applications are due in the fall and awards are made in the spring. The process is competitive, and all applications are reviewed by a faculty committee.
Proposals are invited from NIU faculty to support research, scholarship, and artistry activities in all academic areas. This support reflects the university's commitment to investing resources in faculty research, scholarly, and creative activities.
Updates and clarifications for the 2023-2024 competition:
New submission portal:
Proposal submission, review, outcome notification, and progress reports will be managed via the InfoReady software portal. InfoReady was built specifically to manage internal competitions at higher education institutions and was designed to be user-friendly. We recommend bookmarking the NIU InfoReady site URL: InfoReady (infoready4.com). Single sign-on has been enabled, and NIU users should access InfoReady by clicking the “NIU Login” link. For technical assistance with any aspect of the InfoReady platform, contact erahelp@niu.edu.
Eligibility updates and clarifications:
Only the lead PI of a Research and Artistry application and award is required to have a tenure-track faculty appointment. Co-investigators/project co-directors are not required to have tenure-track appointments but must be employees of NIU. A Research and Artistry application and award can have up to four co-investigators.
Individuals who have held Research and Artistry awards for the past two consecutive years/award cycles are not eligible to apply. This restriction includes extensions of previously issued awards. The Research and Artistry award cycle is from May 16 of one year through June 30 of the next year.
Proposals will be accepted in two categories:
Complete proposal and budget guidelines, evaluation criteria and selection procedures are provided separately for Opportunity and Facilitation grants.
Program eligibility is limited to tenure-track faculty members who have not received Research and Artistry funding for the past two consecutive award cycles. Complete eligibility details are below.
Proposals must be submitted by 4:30 p.m. CST on December 6, 2023.
Proposals received after this deadline will not be accepted for review. Proposals submitted on time but that are incomplete or otherwise non-compliant will not be reviewed.
Note that technical support for proposal development and submission in the InfoReady portal is not available outside of business hours. We strongly suggest that you prepare and submit your proposal well in advance of the deadline to ensure adequate time to address any technical issues you may encounter.
Proposals must be submitted via NIU’s InfoReady portal.
The submission process is completely electronic. Proposals submitted by any method other than the InfoReady portal will not be accepted.
Proposals will be reviewed and scored by members of the Research and Artistry Selection Committee. The Research and Artistry Selection Committee will evaluate submitted proposals in the context of the program-specific criteria to develop scores and formulate funding recommendations. Scores may be adjusted based on committee discussion of a proposal if warranted.
Review criteria are as follows:
| Criterion | Description | Score Range |
|---|---|---|
|
Impact on the field / discipline |
Potential for the proposed activity to advance the field or discipline. |
1 (lowest) to 4 (highest) |
|
Impact on the applicant |
Potential for the proposed activity to advance the applicant’s(s’) reputation and to expand their research, scholarly, or artistic accomplishments. |
1 (lowest) to 4 (highest) |
|
Applicant preparedness and potential |
Applicant’s(s’) training, previous accomplishments, and potential for future productivity. |
1 (lowest) to 4 (highest) |
|
Appropriate to category and likelihood of success |
The appropriateness of the proposed activity with respect to the type of grant (opportunity or facilitation) and the likelihood of success. |
1 (lowest) to 4 (highest) |
|
Student engagement |
The potential for the proposed activity to engage students in mentored research, scholarly, or creative activities. |
0 (student engagement not addressed; lack of student engagement not justified) |
The associate vice president for research and innovation partnerships (AVP-RIPS) will make final selections based on selection committee rankings and committee and director of research development recommendations and balancing of categories and disciplines. The budgets and budget justifications of the selected proposals will be reviewed and adjusted (if necessary) by the director of research development and the AVP-RIPS. Once awards are finalized, the RIPS business office will offer one or more webinars to awardees and their designated business managers to explain award and expenditure procedures. Attendance at the webinar(s) and formal acceptance of award terms are required before award funds will be released.
If you do not find an answer to your question in the FAQ, you may contact the emails listed below with questions about your research and artistry proposal or award.
Proposal and overall program contact: resart@niu.edu for questions about proposal requirements including RFP clarifications, opportunity vs. facilitation proposal categories, eligibility requirements, budget restrictions/allowances or other miscellaneous questions.
Technical contact: erahelp@niu.edu for questions about the InfoEd submission portal or troubleshooting assistance. Please reference "research and artistry" in the email subject line.
Post-award management: dcrawford@niu.edu for questions about award management guidance and requirements described in your award letter or other questions specific to a current award.